Found in the fund’s prospectus, these figures show how much an investor would expect to pay in expenses, sales charges (loads), and fees over the next three, five, and 10 years, assuming a $10,000 investment that grows by 5% per year with redemption at the end of each time period.

Expense projections are commonly based on the past year’s incurred fees or an estimate of the current fiscal year’s fees, should a portion of the overall fee structure change as of the printing of the fund’s most current prospectus. Newer funds are required to print expense projections for only one- and three year time periods because longer-term projections may not be possible to estimate.